‘I Wish I Could Still Play With the Guys’ – Nicko McBrain Opens Up on Retiring From Touring With Iron Maiden

In a new interview with Chaoszine, Iron Maiden‘s Nicko McBrain reflected on his retirement from touring with the band after more than 40 years.

During the chat, he opens up about the emotions that came with making the big decision, as well as the timeline of that decision-making process and when he realized it was time to put the sticks down.

“Mixed emotions, obviously,” McBrain says when asked how he’s doing. He notes that the decision felt “easy” at the time before the The Future Past tour came to an end. The trek kicked off in Europe in 2023, just a few months after the drummer suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.

“I kind of made my mind up when we got to North America and talked to the boys about it, mainly Steve [Harris] and then the management. And everybody went, ‘Okay. If that’s what you wanna do, we understand,’ having my handicap, since my stroke and stuff like that,” the drummers continues. He also explains he would wake up some days with concern that he wouldn’t be able to perform well enough for the tour.

“It was an easy decision, but I wish I could still play with the guys. I wish I had my full fitness.”

How Nicko McBrain Felt on The Future Past Tour

McBrain also says that the consistent schedule of The Future Past tour’s regimen between show days, travel days and days off helped him maintain his readiness. But the tour, he admits, was tough and, ultimately, “it just got to me,” he laments.

No longer feeling like he could “give it a hundred percent,” especially on iconic songs such as “The Trooper,” which involves busy fills, McBrain realized he was not “able to drive the band like I wanted to.”

He worked with a personal trainer while on tour as The Future Past tour neared its end.

“I was enjoying getting that physical side of training,” the drummer explains, “I wasn’t doing so much weight; it was a lot of kind of yoga stretches, a lot of things like that, trying to get my mental agility back with coordinating. There were a lot of things that we did together to improve the synapses in the brain to get working again. And it was coming on nice, but it was just a struggle for me. And I thought, ‘You know, at my age, I’m gonna step back and let somebody else take a the reins.'”

McBrain credits his therapists and everyone he worked with to return to drumming after his stroke, but there are still some hindrances. “The feeling I had was I was frustrated because I know I could do stuff, but I couldn’t actually do it physically or mentally because there’s a lot of mental stuff going on,” he says.

When Nicko McBrain Realized He Was Going to Retire

McBrain confesses he “thought of” retiring in 2023, but was intent on making it through the whole tour before coming to the band with the news. He reveals, “And as we got to the North American tour, I thought, ‘It’s time to hang it up, Nick.”

He acknowledges there are “good days and bad days” and it was those bad days that left him thinking about the reality of retirement — “Oh, I’m not gonna be out on those stages anymore looking at these wonderful fans of ours for all these years.”

“I’m not doing it because it was just too much for me,” he concludes.

Iron Maiden’s Thank You to Nicko McBrain

READ MORE: Who Is Simon Dawson, Iron Maiden’s New Drummers? What You Need to Know

The Future for Nicko McBrain

McBrain still plays drums with his band Titanium Tart and makes appearances at his Rock n Roll Ribs BBQ restaurant.

A book might be on the horizon as well. “Yeah, we’re on the cusp of that,” McBrain said of a potential book, Yeah, it’s been talked about.”

Nicko McBrain Interview With Chaoszine